The Capitals have re-signed center Brooks Laich (pronounced LIKE) to a one year contract. Laich is a fast-skating, defensively responsible young center who can also play on the wing. The Capitals acquired him from the Ottawa Senators in 2004 in a trade for Washington’s all time leading scorer, Peter Bondra. Returning to a recently broken club policy, “financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.“

According to TSN, however, the contract is worth $725,000.00, and was the result of arbitration. The Capitals are still awaiting arbitration for defenseman Milan Jurcina, and have yet to reach agreements with restricted free agents John Erskine, Tomas Fleischmann and Jakub Klepis.

The four players without contracts have combined for 59 career points over eleven combined seasons in the NHL, meaning that the Capitals should be able to afford all of them. The real question, though, is whether the Caps will have enough room left under the salary cap to add one more good player and try to get into the playoffs this year.

Pressing needs remaining after the team’s summer free agent signings include a defenseman who intimidates opposing forwards and a goalie with two working knees.